Tina Goldstein never received mail. When she did, it was always from MACUSA; the clean, inconspicuous envelope containing a neatly typewritten letter, stamped with the MACUSA seal. However, one December, that all changed.
The first letter had been a surprise. An owl had brought it, tapping on the glass of the window in the living room. Queenie was in the other room so Tina unlatched the window, pushing it open. The tawny owl fluttered in, landing on the back of the couch. Having shut the window, Tina turned back to the owl. It had a letter in its beak. Reaching forward, she took the letter from the bird.
Tina examined the envelope. She let out a quiet gasp. It was sealed with a seal of blue wax and the imprint in the wax once one she recognized. She had seen it once before, on the cover of a journal. It was a simple seal, composed of an 'N' and an 'S' entwined and enclosed in an elongated hexagon.
Newt Scamander.
Tina shakily turned the envelope over. There, in the middle of the cream-colored paper, was her name and address, written in black ink. In the corner was another address, an address in London. She carefully broke the seal, tying her hardest not to damage the blue wax. Then she pulled out the letter and slowly unfolded it.
Dear Tina,
I hope you don't mind me writing to you. I arrived in London last night and thought I should let you know. I'm not sure why though.
My trip back was uneventful. My case stayed shut and nothing escaped. I've been working on adding extra enchantments to the case. It should be nearly impossible for anything to escape on its own. I've also fixed the latch so the case won't come open on its own anymore.
I was glad to see that my house was still in one piece and that all my creatures were safe when I arrived. I didn't really think it wouldn't, my assistant, Bunty, is more than capable of taking care of my creatures, but it's always a relief to know that all my creatures are safe.
There was something different about the next paragraph, something about the handwriting. It was still Newt's but it seemed messier, almost unsure; as if Newt had been hesitant to write the next few words.
I know it sounds strange since we hardly know each other and it's only been a few days since I left, but I've already started to miss you. You were one of my first real friends, the only others being Jacob and Queenie. I miss them too, of course, but think (and now the handwriting got even messier) that I may just miss you more than them.
I'm really sorry if you don't want me to write to you. If you don't want to hear from me again, don't hesitate to tell me so and I promise I won't write.
Sincerely,
Newt
____
Newt stared at the envelope in his hands.
She replied, he thought. She actually replied! Suddenly, he was nervous. What if she only replied to tell me not to write again?
Shaking these thoughts from his head, Newt slowly opened the envelope and pulled out the neatly folded sheet of paper. He carefully unfolded it and began to read.
Dear Newt,
Of course, I'm not upset that you wrote to me. Why would I be? I'm glad to know you got home safely and that nothing escaped while you were on that ship. I'd hate if my first investigation now that I'm back as an Auror had been dealing with a No-maj ship full of magical creatures.
You mentioned something about your house and creatures. Do you have even more creatures than the ones I saw in your case? Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm just surprised you never mentioned them. You also never mentioned this assistant of yours, Bunty.
Nothing really worth mentioning has happened since you left. My job, so far, has been pretty boring, but only because I haven't been given a case of my own yet. I just have piles of paperwork to deal with. I've been stuck in my office all day and I'm still not done.
Queenie is hovering over me as I write this. I may as well tell you what she's trying to get me to put in the letter since I know she won't leave me alone if I don't. She keeps insisting I ask what you're doing for Christmas and that I suggest you come here if you don't have any plans. I told her you probably do have something you're doing and that we shouldn't expect you to buy a ticket to come here just to see us but, of course, you're always welcome here.
Now Queenie won't talk to me because I put her in the letter as the one who told me to invite you. But she just asked me to say hi to you for her so, Queenie says hi.
I hope you and all your creatures are still doing well.
Sincerely,
Tina
P.S. I miss you too.
P.P.S. And now Queenie is teasing me for having written that.
____
Dear Tina,
I've very glad you received my letter and that you replied to it. I'm sorry your job isn't as exciting as you'd like but I'm sure you'll be given a case of your own soon. You're a very talented woman and you deserve recognition.
To answer your question about my creatures, yes, I do have more creatures. I've enlarged the basement of my house to hold all of them. I even have a whole lake, just for my Kelpie. But I'm not going to bore you with pointless stories about my creatures since I think we both know I could talk about them forever. I know I never mentioned Bunty but that's because I don't really have much to say about her. She just helps me with my creatures, that's all.
Please say hello to Queenie for me. And tell her that I don't have any plans for Christmas and I would be more than happy to join the two of you, but only if you really want me to come.
Bunty is calling me to help with something so I have to go. I'd add more to this letter later but I'd really like to get it sent now so I'll just write more another time.
Sincerely,
Newt
____
Dear Newt,
I don't mind if you talk about your creatures. I know how much you love them. I actually enjoy hearing your stories about them and I'd love if you told more of them.
Of course, we'd like you to come for Christmas. Queenie was very excited when she heard you'd be willing to come. It was nice to see her smiling. She almost never smiles anymore, you know, since Jacob was Obliviated.
Since I know you're going to ask about Jacob, I'm just going to tell you now that, no, we don't know anything about him. I know you gave him those Occamy eggshells but we don't know if he's started his bakery yet. Queenie has been doing everything she can to find out but we're still not sure.
Anyway, my pile of work just keeps getting bigger, no matter how much of it I do. I wish I had something interesting to tell you but I don't.
I hope we'll see you soon.
Sincerely,
Tina
Beneath Tina's signature was another note, this one in much fancier handwriting.
Dear Newt,
I don't want to call my sister a liar, especially since what she said was essentially true. However, I will accuse her of not telling you the whole story. It is true that I was excited to hear you were coming but I was nowhere near as excited as Tina was. You should have seen her. She hasn't stopped smiling since your letter came and she's already thinking of a million things she'd like to do with you and say to you. She's also really nervous, and I'm sure you are too. I think she'd kill me if I told you how she really feels about you so I'm just going to tell you that she really misses you. She really, really misses you.
Can't wait to see you again!
Love,
Queenie
____
Dear Tina,
This is just a quick note to tell you that I will be arriving in New York at 5:00 on 23 December. Can't wait to see you.
-Newt
A/N: Yay! First chapter of my new book! I hope you enjoyed it! Please vote and comment!
I'd like to update this book as often as I can because it is going to be very long. As in, 50 chapters long. However, I do have school and that really needs to be my first priority, especially since it hasn't always been in the past. So far, I haven't been writing this when I had homework to do but it's only the first day of school so I hope I can keep that up while still being able to update frequently. We'll see what happens.
Anyway, it's almost time for me to go to Bible class. I have a free period now because I'm not taking Economics.
Have a good day!
Bye!
Written January 8, 2019.